Paste Jewels eBook

“Mary drank that. They got word this morning
that their brother was very ill, and it upset them
so I don’t believe they knew what they were
doing; but at one o’clock, when I went down to
lunch, there was no lunch ready, and when I descended
into the kitchen to find out why, I found that the
fire had gone out, and both girls were—­both
girls were asleep on the cellar floor. They’re
there yet—­locked in; and all through dinner
I was afraid they might come to, and—­ make
a rumpus.”

“And the dinner?” said Thaddeus, a light
breaking through into his troubled mind.

“I telegraphed to New York to Partinelli at
once, telling him to serve a dinner for eight here
to-night, supplying service, cook, dinner, and everything,
and at four o’clock these men arrived and took
possession. It was the only thing I could do,
Thad, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, I did,” said Bessie. “They
were so full of praises for everything that I didn’t
think it was fair for me to take all the credit of
it, so I told them the whole thing.”

“That was right, too,” said Thaddeus;
“but those fellows will never let me hear the
end of that infernal Grimmins story. I almost
wish we—­”

“You wish what, Teddy dear?”

“I almost wish we had not attempted the tipsy-cake,
and had stuck to my original suggestion,” said
Thaddeus.

“What was that?” Bessie asked.

“To have lemon pie for dessert, for Bradley’s
sake,” answered Thaddeus, as he locked the front
door and turned off the gas.

AN OBJECT-LESSON

It was early in the autumn. Mr. and Mrs. Perkins,
with their two hopefuls, had returned from a month
of rest at the mountains, and the question of school
for Thaddeus junior came up.

“He is nearly six years old,” said Bessie,
“and I think he is quite intelligent enough
to go to school, don’t you?”

“Well, if you want my honest opinion,”
Thaddeus answered, “I think he’s intelligent
enough to go without school for another year at least.
I don’t want a hot-house boy, and I have always
been opposed to forcing these little minds that we
are called upon by circumstances to direct.
It seems to me that the thing for us to do is to hold
them back, if anything. If Teddy goes to school
now, he’ll be ready for college when he is twelve.
He’ll be graduated at sixteen, and at twenty
he’ll be practising law. At twenty-five
he’ll be leader of the bar; and then—­what
will there be left for him to achieve at fifty?
Absolutely nothing.”

Mrs. Perkins laughed. “You have great
hopes for Teddy, haven’t you?”

“Certainly I have,” Thaddeus replied;
“and why shouldn’t I? Doesn’t
he combine all my good qualities plus yours?
How can he be anything else than great?”